Book Report ✯ FALL 2016

Brotherhood of War Series
W. E. B. Griffin

A prolific author of more than 150 books, including 50 New York Times best-sellers, W. E. B. Griffin has penned some fictional Norwich graduates as part of his Brotherhood of War series. Colonel Phillip Sheridan Parker IV, USA, a 1946 Norwich graduate, is African-American and a fourth-generation officer who entered the service on the eve of the desegregation of the Army. Parker appears throughout the eight-novel series. The books also feature supporting characters who hail from the Hill. Parker’s father, Colonel Phillip Sheridan Parker III, USA (Ret.), commanded a tank destroyer regiment while the military was still segregated. The character of Captain John S. Oliver Jr., USA, a Norwich graduate who served in Vietnam, is the only officer to survive a helicopter crash, and leads his Green Beret team during a Special Forces operation. Griffin is the pen name of William E. Butterworth III, co-founder of Norwich University’s William E. Colby Military Writers’ Symposium.

The Last Chapter The Facts about the Last Days of Grumman
JAKE BUSSOLINI ’58

In the early 1990s, the U.S. Defense Department summoned the heads of the nation’s major defense companies to Washington for a meeting. The message: Budgetary shakeups meant imminent industry downsizing. The Grumman Company had gotten caught up in some unfavorable politics and was forced to seek a merger to survive. At the time, Jake Bussolini ’58 was the senior Grumman executive tasked with shepherding a favorable merger with the Northrop Company. Winner of the Silver Award by the Nonfiction Authors Association, The Last Chapter reveals backroom board discussions and the unauthorized activities by an investment banker that turned a once-friendly merger into a hostile takeover of Grumman.

Acceptance! Not Expectations
NANCY YOUNG FILLIP ’76

One of the very first women to join the Norwich University Corps of Cadets, Nancy Young Fillip ’76 went on to amass a wealth of life skills. But it was her early cadet experience that prompted her to write Acceptance, a book drawn from her own life about a girl named Rosalie who wants to attend a military college. Having received a letter from the school, Rosalie agonizes over its contents. “Placing the envelope on the desk, she eyeballed it for several minutes. With just a flick of her thumbnail, the path of her destiny was about to be revealed.” Fillip is the author of seven books. Read more about Nancy Young Fillip.

The Tale of a Comet Named Hiccup and More
KENDRA (BURR) KENNEDY ’08

This NU nursing grad has had a busy year since we last reported on her books Why Wolf Has Big Feet, and French Toast: The Early Morning Adventure, in the summer 2015 Book Report. Kendra Kennedy ’08 follows her original Wolf story with the publication of Why Wolf is Waterproof. Young Wolf has just rescued Mrs. Mole, and has found himself with webbed feet from digging in the muddy earth. Kennedy’s character, French Toast, is back for another early-morning adventure with his human friend, Clive, in French Toast: Friends in the Front Yard, released this past summer. And her new cosmic quest, The Tale of a Comet Named Hiccup, is the story of a young comet with a need for adventure.

You Only Live Once The Roadmap to Financial Wellness and a Purposeful Life
JASON VITUG M’07

Where do you see yourself financially in 10 years? Five years? This time next year? In You Only Live Once, Jason Vitug M’07, founder and CEO of Phroogal.com, walks you through the budgeting process, step by step, and shows you how to plan your financial path to point toward your goals. You’ll learn how to prioritize spending, how to save efficiently, and how to take advantage of simple tools you didn’t know you had. Smart planning is a major factor in financial security, and it involves just as much introspection as math. You Only Live Once is a guide to revamping your financial behaviors to achieve the life you want.

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WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS IS?

It was on a sheer hunch that Sean McCrystal ’17 began looking into the origins of a suit of armor believed to be of Chinese origins. The history major determined that the artifact, housed in the Sullivan Museum, had originally belonged to a Japanese samurai.